


My Favorite Color is You

by shinxhara (hkeenster)



Series: i hope that i see the world as you did. [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), First Kiss, First Meetings, Holding Hands, Implied Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-03 21:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17291750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkeenster/pseuds/shinxhara
Summary: Soulmate AU where you see the world in black and white until you meet your soulmate.





	1. Green is not a creative color

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to just be 2 chapters but I wanted to put something else that would happen in between the 1st and now 3rd chapters. So basically ~~im monky~~ I already have the 3rd chapter written, I just need to write out the 2nd one and hopefully I'll have both out before the end of the week!

“What do you mean he knows I’m Spider-Man?!” Peter exclaims.

Tony had just got done telling him about some kid who apparently helped him out a few years back. Peter didn’t think much of it, until Tony mentioned that the kid knew that he, Peter Parker, was Spider-Man.

“In my defense, he just figured it out, I didn’t outright tell him.” Tony had the decency to look a little guilty. “I always mention you to him-- both versions of you-- and he pieced it together.” 

Peter was on the verge of freaking out-- ok, scratch that, he was totally freaking out.

A kid, one he doesn’t even know, from a small town in the middle of nowhere, knows his secret identity. He could tell everyone he knew without a care. Hell, he probably already has.

“Hey, Pete, calm down. You can trust Harley, he’s been keeping my secrets for years. I trust him, he won’t tell anyone you’re Spider-Man.” Tony reassured him. “Look, I didn’t tell you about him to freak you out-- I’m telling you about him because he’s coming to stay here for a few weeks. He’s around your age, I figured you two could be friends.”

“Ok, ok--“ Peter started, calming down a bit. “I trust you. If you trust him, then I guess I can trust him not to tell.” He paused. “Maybe after I get to know him a bit more though…” He added sheepishly.

“Glad you feel that way! Cause he should be here by now, Happy left to pick him up from the airport like, half an hour ago.” Tony said, looking down at his watch.

“What? So soon?!”

“Yep, wanna come with me to the common room to greet them?”

“Uh-- okay?” He started smoothing down his gray sweater. “Do I look okay?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “you look stunning, kid. Let’s go,” he said, and walked to the elevator with Peter following after him. 

After an elevator ride of Peter looking into the reflection and smoothing down every hair in sight, they reached the common room where he saw Happy and an unfamiliar teen sitting on the couch, back turned to them.

Before they got out, Tony grabbed him in a choke hold and gave him a noogie, effectively messing up his hair.

“Mr. Stark-! No!” Peter cried, which immediately drew the attention of Happy and the unknown teen, who got up and walked to them.

He broke out of his mentors grasp and started towards the other boy, Harley, his mind supplied from when Tony talked about him literally 5 minutes ago.

“Hey, uh-- I’m Pete--“ he cut himself off as he finally looked at Harley, who stifled a gasp. 

The world around him suddenly burst with color the moment he made eye contact.

Peter could only focus on one thing, the vibrance of Harley’s eyes. They were so pretty. Whatever color his eyes were supposed to be, he’s decided that it’s his favorite color. Favorite color? Wow, he’d never had one of those before. He looked at Harley again, this time at parts of him that weren’t his eyes. His shirt looked to be the same color as his eyes, just slightly lighter. His jacket was very different though, a little brighter than his eye color, and very contrasting to it. His shoes? They might be one of the ugliest colors Peter’s ever seen. And so far that’s like, three colors. They were brighter than the other two colors, slightly dirty and a little worn out, but the color of it still popped. Peter definitely preferred the color of his eyes to the color of his shoes.

“Uh…” Tony broke the silence, “you two gonna introduce yourselves, or just keep staring at each other for the next 10 minutes? It’s okay, we aren’t on a time limit.”

Peter snapped out of his trance and took a look around the room, everything looked the same, yet so different. His eyes snapped back to the boy in front of him, who was looking at him with the same amount of awe. This boy in front of him-- this, admittedly cute, boy in front of him-- was his soulmate. The person he was meant to spend his life with.

That thought scared him a little. A minute ago he was just some kid Tony wanted him to get acquainted with. If they didn’t hit it off, well, they’d just avoid each other til the kid had to go back home. Yet now he was someone important to Peter. Or, he was going to be. Could be. What if Harley didn’t like him? Peter had always been excited to meet his soulmate, what with all the talks about how wonderful it was to finally see a world in color from May and Ben. Now the time had finally come and he’s nothing but nerves.

He’s been staring too long, he should probably say something before Harley gets weirded out. “Uhh…” He chokes out, and Harley raises a brow at him, looking slightly amused. He distantly hears Tony ask him whats wrong, but he’s only focusing on Harley. Harley, who’s looking more and more perfect the more he gazes at him. Oh, god. He can’t do this. He’s panicking.

He decides to do what any normal person would do when they’re faced with a situation they’re not quite ready to deal with yet. Get the fuck outta there.

As he ran to the nearest room to lock himself in, he distantly heard two voices call out to him. One was Tony’s, the other? Way too young sounding to be Happy’s. That only made him run faster.

__________

Harley watched as his soulmate raced off, not slowing down when Harley called after him. He turned to Tony, who looked somewhat apologetic.

“Sorry about him, kid. I know how excited you were to meet him. He’s usually not like this, maybe give him a minute? He might be still processing that you know his secret.” Tony explained.

“Yeah, could be that. Or maybe he’s just overwhelmed after meeting his soulmate.” Harley breathed out, looking to the direction Peter ran off into again.

Tony did a double take, quickly processing what Harley just said. “Wait, you’re his--? You two are-- you’re soulmates??” He asked, and Harley laughed at his fumbling.

“Yep.” Harley confirmed. He looked around the room, it was fairly simple and lacking lots of color, not much different from when he couldn’t see color. Then he took a look down at what he was wearing. “Jeez, I look like I dressed myself. Hey what color do you call this?” He asked Tony, pointing to his shirt.

“That’s blue.” Harley then pointed to his jacket. “Orange.” He pointed down at his shoes. “Green. I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you don’t have anyone around who can see color?” Tony asked.

“That’s the thing, I do. My little sister helps me dress everyday and always reassures me I don’t look stupid.” Harley replied, smirking a bit knowing his sister totally duped him. She found her soulmate in now one of her best friends sometime last year, and since then she’d been critiquing him and his mom on the colors they wore whenever they were about to go out.

“Ok, anyways, I’ll go talk to Peter, try and bring him back out so you two could try that again.” Tony said, starting to walk in the direction Peter left in.

“Actually,” Tony turned to look at him, confused. He walked towards him, “can I go talk with him?” He asked, and Tony smiled and gave a nod.

“Friday? You mind directing Harley to the room Peter probably locked himself in, and if he did, unlock it so Harley can get in?” Tony called out, already turning and leaving Harley to go find Peter.

“Of course, Boss. If you’ll just walk straight ahead and turn right, you’ll find the elevator. Mr. Parker stopped on the floor below, and went into the lab closest to the elevator door. It is now unlocked.” Friday replied, and Harley began walking to the elevator as directed.

As he made his way to the lab, he contemplated what he was going to say. He didn’t know this guy, but he was apparently his soulmate. The person he was destined to spend his life with. He could probably get away with winging it, maybe.

He stopped outside the door, looking in and seeing Peter working at a station, fiddling with some kind of arm brace. He approached him from behind and called out, “Hey.” 

Peter turned to face him, looking a bit more calmed down than when he ran away earlier. “Hey.” He said back, and Harley took that as a sign that it was okay to sit next to him.

“What are you working on?”

“Uh-- just messing with one of my web-shooters. For, yknow, when I go out as Spider-Man…” He trailed off.

“For the longest time I thought that stuff just came out of your body. Did you build this yourself?” Harley asked.

Peter pulled a face at the thought of having the webbing actually come from his body, which earned a laugh out of Harley, “Mr. Stark made these ones, but I designed the original.”

“Can you show me how it works?”

Peter brightened up a bit and scooted closer to Harley to show him the different mechanisms in the web-shooter. Harley smiled as he explained all the different combinations in them. He grabbed Harley’s arm and looked up at him, silently asking if it was okay. Harley nodded, and Peter attached the shooter to his wrist.

“You think you can figure out the rest from there?” Peter asked.

Harley smirked, “I think I’ve seen this part enough to get it.” He pressed his middle and ring finger to the button in the middle and aimed at the wall. Instantly, a web shot out and attached itself. The backlash pushed him back a little when he shot it out, knocking him into Peter, who caught him.

“Sorry, forget to mention that might happen to anyone who tries to shoot it that doesn’t have some sort of super strength. Your wrist okay?” Peter asked keeping Harley upright on his chair by holding onto his forearm. Harley tugged at his wrist, which still had a web shot out and was still stuck to the wall. “Double-tap to release.” Peter reached around to his wrist and pressed the button twice, causing the web to fall from his wrist.

Harley looked up at him, and Peter seemed to notice how close the two were, because not a second later his face flushed red and he backed away from him. Harley frowned, “you good?” He asked.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just… we’re, yknow..” Peter trailed off again, not looking at him.

“Soulmates.” Harley finished for him, respectfully keeping his distance. “Does it bother you?”

“What?” Peter looked to him, not getting what he was saying.

“That you got guy as a soulmate. You know not all soulmates are romantically involved, right? We don’t have to be like that.” Harley reassured, and Peter froze.

“Wh--what? No, no, I don’t-- I don't mind if you’re a guy, really. I’m just worried about-- I mean, it’s stupid, really,” Peter looked down at his lap.

“If it’s bugging you this much, then chances are it’s probably not stupid.”

“I’m just worried that you might be disappointed with, with having _me_ as your soulmate.”

“From what I’ve seen so far, I doubt you could disappoint me if you tried. We don’t know each other that well yet, I’ve only heard a few things about you from Tony, but those few things I learned? They make you out to be a pretty cool dude, one I’d want to get to know and befriend. Regardless if you were my soulmate or not. That’s just a perk on my end.” Harley leaned down below his face to look him in the eyes, “besides, you’re worried about me being disappointed in you? Dude, I don’t know if I have to remind you, but you’re literally a superhero. You spend your free time saving lives, that’s amazing! If anything, I should be the worried one, I’m just an average Joe who knows his way around a car engine.”

Peter snapped his head up, Harley following suit, never breaking eye contact. “Are you kidding? From what Mr. Stark tells me about you, you’re insanely smart! I’ve heard of all the things you built, saying you know you’re way around a car engine is an understatement!” Peter exclaimed.

A smile made its way onto Harley’s face. “You have no idea how much that means, coming from you.” Peter smiled back, and Harley leaned closer to where their noses were touching. 

“Uh, yea…” Peter said awkwardly, not moving back when Harley leaned closer. Harley broke eye contact for a second and looked up to the top of his head, smirking a bit.

“Your hair’s a mess, by the way.” 

“What?” Peter raised a hand to his head, feeling his curly hair all over the place instead of smoothed down, like it normally was. He distantly remembers Tony messing his hair up the moment they got off the elevator before he got the chance to greet Harley. His face went red, he can’t believe he looked so messy when first meeting his soulmate. He began combing through his hair and trying to smooth it down when Harley reached a hand up to his head and placed it on one of his hands.

“Don’t. Your curls look cute,” he said, pulling Peter’s hands from his hair and setting them in his lap, not letting go but instead intertwining their fingers.

Peter stared down at their hands, a warm, comforting feeling spreading through him when he saw how perfect their hands fit together. “Thanks,” he said, feeling breathless.

“No problem.” Harley squeezed his hand, and Peter squeezed his back. Any remaining doubt or feelings of panic were out the window when he looked back up at Harley’s eyes. His favorite color. He still didn’t know what to call it. 

“Any chance you know the color name of your shirt?” Peter asked, not bothering to look down at said shirt.

“Tony said it’s called blue. He also said that this was orange.” Harley replied, pointing to his jacket.

“I think blue’s my favorite color.” Peter said, noticing that Harley hadn’t realized what color his eyes were yet.

“He also said my shoes were green.”

“Your shoes are hideous.” And Harley barked a laugh at that.

He could get used to feeling this content.


	2. honey, you've got a big storm coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misunderstandings paired with obliviousness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3rd and final chapter will be up in like an hour!!! Sorry for the wait!

It’s been two weeks since Harley shows up and, circumstantially, two weeks since he started to see the formally black and white world in color.

It was slightly overwhelming for him at first, but he eventually calmed down with the help of Harley. They spent their first day learning which colors were which together. And spent the second day taking turns correcting each other when one of them confused a color with another.

At one point during the first week Peter had found out the color scheme to his suit, and fixed a bracelet based on it. Red and blue threaded together with a small spider charm keeping the ends together, which he then gave to Harley, who had teased him at the gesture, but then proudly declared he’ll wear it forever when Peter tried to take it back.

Over the course of the two weeks the two boys had steadily been getting to know each other and became more comfortable with seeing the other as their soulmate.

There’s stories of some people fighting against soulmates, refusing to have their life be dictated by random outside forces. Learning about those people didn’t diminish Peter’s excitement to meet his soulmate, but it did put a few things into perspective. Yet the more time Peter spent with Harley, the more he felt like himself. Soulmates weren’t chosen for us to be directed in life, they were given to us as a gift, Peter decided. He felt sad for people who fought against them, or claimed that soulmates were just people forced to be together because of the title. Peter gave a light squeeze to Harley’s hand. That wasn’t the case at all.

The two boys were sitting in Peter’s Aunt’s apartment on the sofa, watching a movie on the tv. They were sat in the corner of the couch, Harley leaning heavily on Peter, totally not sleeping. Their hands were clasped together. Something uncommon that happened when they were near each other was how often their hands drifted together, like it was natural. Like they’d been doing it for years. Peter decided after the first time it happened that he really like holding Harley’s hand.

There was just one thing that was bugging him.

Well, maybe not bugging, it was just something small that he didn’t know what to do about, according to him. He didn’t even mind it that much! Actually, scratch that, he didn’t mind it that much a week ago. It honestly wasn’t that big a deal to him, at first, but the more time passed that he spent with Harley, the more unbearable it became to deal with.

Maybe unbearable is too strong a word. It started when Peter had first expressed his concerns for the two of them being soulmates, and Harley had misread his concerns and reassured Peter that they didn’t have to be romantically involved soulmates. Which was far from Peter’s actual concern. Peter quickly corrected Harley, but he didn’t seem to pick up on it.

Because for the past two weeks, whenever the two got a little more closer than usual, Harley would back down. At first, it discouraged Peter. Had he done something to make Harley uncomfortable? Those thoughts quickly left when he heard Harley trying to assure him that Peter didn’t need to force himself with Harley. He didn’t know what to say to that. He tried to explain again how much he _really_ didn’t mind if they were romantically involved. Keyword: tried to, but then Harley’s hand found his and he got a reassuring squeeze paired with a soft smile and became tongue tied. He had rested his forehead on Harley’s shoulder in defeat and promised himself he’d make it clear to Harley that he did want a romantic relationship with him.

That was his plan right now, or, was his plan. He put on some random romcom and was going to somehow bring it up in conversation. He didn’t know how that, what was he gonna do? Point at the main characters kissing and go, “can we try that sometime?” It wasn’t something you can casually bring up, he thought. 

He finally formulated the perfect way to start it when he turned to Harley and found him dozing off about an hour into the movie. He sighed and waved his free hand in front of his face, gaining no reaction. He slowly got up in an effort not to wake Harley, and reluctantly pulled his hand from Harley’s. He walked down the hall and stopped in front of May’s room, lightly knocking before pushing open the door. 

She was sitting on her bed, reading a novel and turned to look up at him. “Hey, the movie end? You boys hungry yet?” She asked.

“No, it’s still going on, Harley fell asleep an hour in.” May chuckled at that.

“Well, he lasted longer than Ben had when we first watched that movie together.”

“Uh, speaking of you and Ben, when you two had first found each other, what was that like? I mean, how did you two react? And when did you-- when did you actually start dating?” Peter hesitantly questioned.

“Is something going on with you and Harley?” May asked instead of answering his questions. Peter tried to deny that, but May cut him off, “Peter, you probably know the story of how Ben and I got together better than I do. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve told you, now, what’s going on with you and Harley? I thought you guys were getting along great.”

“Maybe I just wanted to hear it again…” Peter tried, but May shot him a stern look and he sighed. “Everything’s fine, it’s pretty stupid, actually. He’s actually being really sweet and thoughtful when he does it.”

“What exactly is it that he does?”

“For some reason he’s convinced that I want our relationship to be strictly platonic, and at first I wasn’t sure what I wanted in our relationship so it was kinda nice, not having the pressure of trying to have a romantic relationship with him. But now, the more time I spend with him, I want to do different things with him, other than just holding hands.” He looked to May, who had a knowing smirk on her face, causing him to flush red. “NOT LIKE THAT!” 

“Peter, I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking it…” He breathed a sigh and collapsed face down on her bed. “Anyways, I’ve been trying to make it clear to him that I like him, like him. The first time, I wasn’t really clear. The second time I couldn’t say it and I was going to tell him while we were watching the movie, but he feel asleep.”

“Take him on a date.” May suggested, and Peter tilted his head up towards her, silently urging her to go on. “Take him to a romantic spot, and tell him all you just told me. How you want to do other things with him other than holding hands.” May teased, and Peter grumbled in embarrassment and squished his face back against the bed.

“I’ve never even been on a date, I’m pretty sure that homecoming disaster doesn’t count. What counts as a ‘romantic spot’?”

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be romantic, it can be a place that’s special to you that you wanna share with him…” She trailed off and he shot her a look. “What? You’ve seen just as many romance movies as I have, take some inspiration from them.” And suddenly Peter had the perfect idea.

_____

Peter crawled across the ceiling into the living room, donning his suit. He stopped when he was above the couch. More specifically, above Harley, who had moved a little since he left, but was still asleep. He shot a web to the ceiling and slowly lowered himself while upside down so he was face to face with Harley. He reached out a poked his face, causing his face to scrunch up before opening his eyes slowly and looking up at Peter. 

“Spider-Man, to what do I owe the pleasure?” 

“Put your shoes on, I wanna show you something.” Peter said, dropping down from the ceiling. He walked towards the window and opened it, climbing outside and sticking to the wall, waiting for Harley.

“Where are we going?” Harley asked, leaning out the window and staring at Peter. Peter held out his hand and Harley grabbed onto him, allowing himself to be pulled out of the window and pressed up against Peter. Peter shot a web out towards another building and pushed himself off the building. Harley wrapped his arms around his neck and held on tight. 

“Uh, it’s a surprise.” Peter said, but in reality he had no clue where he was taking them. He had a vague idea of what he wanted to do, maybe take them to a high rooftop and watch the sunset while he told Harley how he felt. That was romantic, right? He saw it in a movie once, and it worked for the protagonist, so it’ll surely work for him too.

He turned the corner and saw an exceptionally tall building in the distance, facing the sunset with nothing in the way. It was perfect. He moved in the direction of the building, it was almost sunset so he’d have to hurry. He was almost there when he heard a cry for help coming from an alleyway he just passed over. He stopped abruptly and landed on the next rooftop over, setting Harley down who looked at him confused, clearly not hearing the unknown man Peter had heard.

“Sorry, uh, I’ll be right back, don’t move!” Peter said before jumping down to where he heard the cry and seeing two slightly larger guys ganging up on another guy, who was backed into a corner. He jumped up and over the big guys and landed between them and the victim, effectively startling them. They moved back, hands raised and one dropped a knife he didn’t see before. “Hey, thanks for making this easy, I have a date tonight I really didn’t wanna miss.” He said, shooting webs out and pinning the guys to the wall behind them. He shot a web out and grabbed the knife from the floor and tossed it in the trash. “Can you handle calling the police? I kinda have somewhere to be..” He asked the man who was being mugged, slowly walking back towards the wall he was preparing to run up to get back to Harley. Getting a nod in response, he scaled the wall and returned to Harley, who was peering over the wall, watching the whole thing.

“A date, huh?” He asked when Peter got to the top, staring down at him, smirking. Peter sputtered, and almost slipped off the wall trying to formulate a response. Harley laughed, and offered a hand to help him back up on the rooftop. “Peter, it’s cool, I don’t mind if you date other people. Like I said, we don’t have to be like that.” Harley repeated what he’s been saying since they met and Peter froze, mouth clamped shut.

He threw his head back and let out a groan, confusing Harley. His lenses were skewed shut as he leaned his head on Harley’s shoulder, not knowing whether or not to laugh or cry at how oblivious he was. He felt Harley put a comforting hand on his shoulder and decided no, he was going to make it clear to Harley one way or another. He picked his head up off his shoulder and yanked his mask off, looking at Harley with determination in his eyes. He reached up and cupped Harley’s face with his gloved hands.

“Maybe I _want_ us to be like that.” He hesitated for a second before leaning in and closing the gap between the two. He’d only ever kissed one person before, and even then that was just a peck on the lips. He wasn’t sure if he was even doing it right, so he tilted his head slightly and pressed a little harder against Harley’s lips. His eyes almost shot open when he felt Harley kiss him back, his hands wrapping around Peter’s waist. They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Peter pulled back, opening his eyes and looking up at Harley expectantly. 

Harley slowly opened his eyes and stared back at Peter as they broke the kiss. “Oh.”

Peter dropped his hands from Harley’s face. “Oh? That’s all you have to say? Did I overstep my bounds? Sorry, I should have asked, I’m so sorry, Harley, but you just weren’t _getting_ it and I--. Sorry, that’s not much of an excuse. Please don’t hate me. I just-- I didn’t want our relationship to be platonic. I wanted to do more than just holding hands, which, don’t get me wrong-- I really enjoy doing. If you aren’t comfortable with that, then we’ll just keep doing what we do, I just… I just wanted you to know. I’m sorry.” Peter finished, looking down at his feet.

Harley stayed silent during Peter’s ramble to explain himself, then reached out to grab his hand when he finished, lacing their fingers together. Peter’s head whipped up at the gesture, looking confused. “Peter, you know you could’ve just talked with me about it. I’m totally open to the idea of us being _together_ together, I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable with us, you always seemed so on edge whenever we got too close.” Harley said.

“I’ve been trying to tell you! And, believe me, I really appreciated your reassurance that we didn’t have to be romantically involved when I wasn’t sure how I felt around you yet, but it got really old fast when I realized I wanted to like, kiss you and stuff.” Peter said, leaning forward to be closer to Harley, totally not pouting. He wasn’t.

“And when, exactly, did you realize you wanted to like, _kiss me and stuff_ ,” Harley asked in a teasing voice.

“Maybe like, the 9th day after I met you.”

“You’ve been counting?”

“Of course I’ve been counting!” Harley tried to cover up his laughter. “Don’t laugh! Tomorrow is our two week anniversary since we met! Harley!” He didn’t even try to disguise his laughter after that, and Peter joined in because it was contagious. They laughed to themselves a bit, leaning on each other as the sun began to set for the day. They faced it, watching in silence as it went down. ~~No phones just people living in the moment.~~

A few seconds passed after it went down when Harley turned to Peter and broke the silence between them.

“You know, I never pegged you for the type of guy to kiss on the first date.”

“Shut up, Keener.” And he kissed him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is hkeenster talk to me about harley / parkner / whatever the fuck. just go talk to me


	3. Goodbye to a colorful world.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> additionally: when your soulmate dies, the world goes back to black and white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry :)

Harley was sitting in a bus on a field trip to MoMA when the first attack happened.

He was sitting next to Peter, who had his head laying on his shoulder, the two sharing headphones to listen to music. He was in the middle of dozing off on Peter’s head when he felt him move. He looked out the window where Peter was looking and saw a giant circular ship flying over Greenwich Village. 

Peter turned back around and got Ned’s attention, “I need you to cause a distraction.”

Shortly after Ned redirected the kids’ attention to the giant spaceship outside, Peter had slapped his web shooter on his wrist and opened the window. He prepared to climb out when Harley grabbed his wrist and pulled his attention to him.

“Hey,” he started, then pecked Peter on the lips. “Good luck, try not to die, okay? That donut ship looks scary.” He smirked as he let go of Peter’s wrist.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Peter kissed him back before jumping out the window and web slinging towards the spaceship. 

Harley watched him go then took out his phone and plugged his earphones in. Connecting to Friday, he watched the heads up display of Tony’s suit and saw him fighting a giant alien. Ned returned from the crowd of kids and sat down next to Harley and Harley wordlessly gave him an earphone so he could watch the fight going on as well. 

From Iron Man’s perspective, they watched as Spider-Man joined the fight and stopped Iron Man from being crushed by the giant aliens weapon. The two fought against it for a while before something in a red blanket flew past them.

“Kid, that’s the wizard. Get on it!” Iron Man said, to which Spider-Man responded, “On it!” and took off after it.

Not even a minute later, they heard Spider-Man’s voice over the comms again, “Uh, Mr. Stark? I’m being beamed up!” 

“Hang on, kid!” Iron Man replied as he was thrown onto the ground by the alien. The alien charged at him, but disappeared through a fiery circle that seemed to appear out of thin air before him.

Iron Man got up, “Wong, you’re invited to my wedding!” and took off towards the Q-ship that was currently leaving the atmosphere. “Give me a little juice, Friday.” He said, turning into a rocket immediately after. The two boys looked closely, and sure enough they could see in the distance, Spider-Man crawling on the outside of the ship. “Unlock 17-A.” 

“17-A?” Ned asked, turning to Harley.

“That’s.. That’s the item number for the Iron Spider Armor.” Harley replied, distantly remembering seeing the armor stored away for future use when Peter would finally become an Avenger.

“Badass.” Ned replied as they turned their attention back to the screen, seeing the armor fly up and catch Spider-Man after he fell from the outside of the ship.

“Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!” Spider-Man shouted as he stood up in his new suit. Harley snickered at his enthusiasm over the new suit.

“Happy trails, kid. Friday, send him home.” Iron Man replied as he flew up towards the exterior of the ship.

“Oh, come on!” was heard in the distant as Spider-Man disappeared from view.

“Friday, can you switch to Peter’s heads up display?” Harley asked, and immediately it switched from Iron Man’s perspective to Spider-Man’s. “Thanks, Fri.” They saw as Spider-Man flew from the side of the ship towards the back, and sticking a web to hang on. “Ugh, what’s he doing?” Harley sighed as he saw Spider-Man crawling up the web and climbing into the ship.

“Oh my god,” Spider-Man said, looking towards earth below as they were getting farther and farther. He breathed a sigh, “I should’ve stayed on the bus.” As the ship closed in, the video feed started to break up.

“Wh-- Friday, what’s happening to the connection?” Harley asked, before the video feed cut out altogether.

“They’re going out of range.” Friday replied.

Ned turned to Harley, before looking out the bus window, no longer seeing the ship in the distance. “They’re gone- on the ship? They’re on an actual alien spaceship and let the atmosphere?! They’re in space?!” Ned shouted before Harley shushed him, getting a few looks from the other students on the bus who have started retreating to their seats now that the ship is gone.

Harley at Ned before looking down at his blank phone screen. “Friday, alert me when they’ve returned to earth.” He stated, worry evident in his voice. He looked out the window towards the sky where the spaceship used to be, “you better be careful up there, Parker.” He mumbled, using his free hand to rub his braceleted wrist.

\---

He wasn’t able to concentrate on the field trip at all, he couldn’t stop worrying over Peter & Tony fighting in space, and constantly checking with Friday in his phone for updates (there weren’t any). They made it back to the school where Happy was waiting for Harley to pick him up & take him home.

“Hey, where’s the other kid?” He asked, opening the door for Harley to get in.

“He was on the ship that left earth, with Tony.” He said as he got in the car, face twisted in sorrow.

“What? Has anyone called is aunt?” Harley shook his head, they probably should’ve done that, considering he and Ned were pretty much the only ones aware of Peter’s disappearance. “I’ll call her right now.” Happy said as he dialed her number and started the car at the same time.

Happy begun driving as he waited for May to pick up. As he drove through an intersection, a car went barreling past them, almost hitting them.

“Damn crazy drivers.” He muttered while passing the still ringing phone to Harley. “Tell me if she picks up.” He said, as he put both hands on the wheel.

He kept driving when May finally picked up. “Hello? Happy?”

“Mrs. Parker?” Harley asked.

“Harley? I’ve told you a hundred times, you can just call me May. Why are you calling from Happy’s phone?” 

“Uh, cause he’s driving right now, Mrs. Par- I mean, May. It’s actually about Peter, he-” Harley was cut off when the car suddenly collided with the car in front. He jerked in his seat as the airbags deployed, dropping the phone in shock. “Happy, what-?” He cut himself off when he turned to look at Happy, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

His right arm was gone, with the rest of his body coming apart and blowing in the wind like _**dust**_. Harley looked at what used to be Happy and caught his breath as he climbed out of the car. 

“Harley?? Harley, sweetie, what was that?! Are you okay? Harley?!” He heard May calling from the phone on the seat. He reached down to pick it up and pressed it to his ear as he turned to look around. People all around the streets were disappearing, more cars crashing into each other and having no drivers. 

“May, I- I don’t know what’s happening, they’re all- they’re all just disappearing. Into dust. Happy’s gone, he was there a second ago, but now he’s gone.” In the distance, he heard people screaming and shouting. He turned his attention towards his bracelet, the one that Peter made for him. Red & blue threaded together with a little spider charm keeping it around his wrist. 

“Harley, honey, you need to tell me where you are right now so I can come get you. Just stay where you are, and I’ll-” He dropped the phone. He couldn’t think. The only thing he had his attention on was his bracelet.

His bracelet which was red and white. With a little spider charm keeping it togeth--

His bracelet which was black and white.

 **Black** and _white_.

He dropped to his knees, his other arm clutching the wrist which held and black and white bracelet. As tears began to trek down his cheeks, he came to a realization. A realization similar to the one he had when he first looked Peter in the eyes and for the first time he could really _see_. 

Distantly, he could still hear people still on the street, some panicking from what they’d just witnessed, some from pain because maybe they were going through the same thing he was right now. He could hear May, yelling into the phone, trying to get his attention. He could hear his own anguished cries, muffled when he put his hand to his face.

Living in black and white for the first 16 years of his life hadn’t been hard, he didn’t even mind it, since he didn’t have anything to compare it to. When he could finally see color, he finally understood why no one would shut up about it. It was amazing and he thought he would live with it forever.

He never realized he’d have to go back to black and white one day. Or maybe he did, subconsciously, knowing he had a soulmate who was a superhero, they were bound to get themselves in trouble sooner rather than later.

_Good luck, try not to die, okay? That donut ship looks scary._

He just never expected it to be so soon.

_Ha ha, very funny._

He never expected opening his eyes to a black and white world would be so _painful_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yell at me on my tumblr: hkeenster !!!


End file.
